Me + GIFs on Goodreads = ANNOYED
WARNING: This post is mildly bitchy.
Can we talk about Goodreads. As a book blogger, I rely on Goodreads for a lot. Release dates, cover reveals, reviews, upcoming books, keeping track of what I read and what I want to read, etc. And I love it. I love most everything about Goodreads. I know there was some drama and some people left... and I'm not going to lie, I wasn't exactly ecstatic when Amazon bought it. But things have died down and I'm happy that not much has changed about the site since the buyout. What I want to talk about is GIFs on Goodreads. Do we really need them??
It's to the point now that I dread clicking on a popular book or a book with a popular romance because I know what's going to happen. My screen flooded with annoying GIFs all about dying for the release date to happen. Even after the damn thing is released. Or dreamcasts, or entire reviews of gifs of people freaking out about how sad they are that it's over. UGHHHH!!! I want to read a REAL review. I want to know what people think about the book, not some lame image of The Office on repeat.
Today I was trying to see if anyone felt the same way about a book that I recently finished, and I ended up scrolling through 4 straight pages of GIFs without seeing a single paragraph. That is fucking annoying. I would really love if people would take down their dumb-ass GIFs that portray their freaking-out feelings about waiting for the release AFTER the book is released. I get it, at one point you really really wanted to read that book... but that time is OVER. Either you've read the book or you didn't really care as much as your GIFs led me to believe you did... it's been out for MONTHS!
Although some of them can be rather funny/cute, I'm on overload.
Thanks and sorry if you love the GIFs. I just don't... especially on Goodreads. It makes my pages take longer to load and they're played out.
EXAMPLE:
THIS ^! Oh my god I find it so insanely annoying, like, is it really so hard to be able to put your feelings into words rather them making my page take forever to load for you to be #brbdying on a gif?! There's no need and Goodreads should give the option to hide them if we want to. I also don't mind gifs in blog posts, but only when they bring something to the table, add to the feel, but that, your example.. THE RAGE. I am with you Michelle!
ReplyDeleteI would love if Goodreads had that option!! I don't mind gifs in blog posts at all, like you said, as long as they bring a purpose.
DeleteAHHH. Those annoy me too. I can't believe it's SO hard to use your WORDS to express how you feel. :-/
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI too find the GIFS annoying!
ReplyDeleteINSERT ANNOYING ^^^^THIS^^^^ GIF HERE!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! I HATE gifs on Goodreads. I really wish people would save their gifs for their tumblr blogs, etc and express their excitement in WORDS on Goodreads! I want to read reviews, not look at pictures!
Totally agree! GIFs on Goodreads suck, and it seems like they are always the first couple of pages of "reviews". Have you noticed that the ones who post those have like a million friends and their "reviews" get like a thousand limes? Smh...
ReplyDeleteI so wish that they would not get a million likes and all be pushed to the beginning! That angers me when I have to wade through just to see a worded real review.
DeleteI like seeing them if they're on a blog review post along with an actual written review. It can get annoying if a review solely consists of gifs. I know some people love using them but I'm not a big fan :)
ReplyDeleteI agree, I'm totally cool with them in blog posts. I don't personally use them, but I don't mind seeing them. It's just the ones on Goodreads that flood the page.
DeleteI agree with Eileen. The excited gifs that stay up for MONTHS make me super annoyed. I don't mind if they're used for the occasional update (I use a gif sometimes for my updates) but I don't use them in my GR reviews. It's funny how those like u pictured are never updated with an actual review. If they're that excited to read it why not actually write a review and delete their gifs when the book is out? :|
ReplyDelete-Dee's Reads
Updates are fine... but yeah take them down after the book comes out people!!
DeleteHow funny. I love gifs, though I didn't realize this bothered me until you pointed it out. Too much is too much!
ReplyDeleteYes! It's almost to the point where if there are a ton of GIFs, I am less likely to read the book - because I can't deal with the them and the mania over the book - which means I'm probably missing out on some good reads. Glad I'm not the only one who hates them.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when people don't take down their gif 'reviews' after the release date because duh.. if you were so freaking excited for the book that you made a full of gifs review you should have read it after months of it being published. I have to admit that I posted gif reviews before but I always run to take them down after the release. Maybe there should be something on Goodreads that puts these gif reviews on the back after actual reviews were shared. I don't know if that's even possible though haha.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog. :)
YES!!! What I've noticed mostly is how much attention those type of reviews get though, Meanwhile the ones without gifs barely get a glance. I find it incredibly sad!!
ReplyDeleteI agree! I get really annoyed with the GIFs on goodreads. I also hate when people rate the book without having read it.
ReplyDeleteEmily @ Follow the Yellow Book Road
I completely agree! They're so annoying and why should people even care to look at those? I don't need to see a GIF of your excited face. I just want to know what people thought of the book. :/
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of GIFs on goodreads or honestly on a book blogger's personal site. I know it's their blog and they can do what they want, and I would not discourage them if that's what made them satisfied, but as an audience member, I'm not thrilled when I see it, and I usually do not pay much attention to their site after I discover overuse of GIFs.
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate the single GIF that is used for emphasis on the occasional post. But, when a review is constructed with GIFs after every three sentences I start to feel underwhelmed. It makes it seem like the written content isn't powerful enough to stand on its own.
I am not a fan of gifs either, when there are used to accompany a blgo post or emphasize a point I can deal with them, but in general I fidn them annoyign and sistracting. When I am on goodreads I want to know what someone thought not just see endless amounts of gif's. I also fidn them distracting in reviews, like I am tryign to read a review and that gif keeps tryign to get my attention with the repeating motions. I usually try to scroll them out of screen.
ReplyDeleteIt's annoying when the pub date has come and gone already, and the epic GIF anticipation is still there. I'm guilty of it, but my mom won't let me buy books, so I can't write a review. And I'm not the top review, so I don't feel like I should do a thing. But there are some really popular books that still has page after page of those things, and I'm just sighing and thinking, "Where are the reviews?"
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. I thought I was alone in my hatred for superfluous book review gifs. I think it all boils down to laziness. Why bother expressing your emotions in words when you can just post a gif? Lame.
ReplyDeleteIt's ruined the reviews for me, so childish.
ReplyDelete